Alluvial gold exports expect K410 million for country

Alluvial gold exports are expected to generate K410 million for the country this year, Mineral Resources Authority (MRA) predicts. The forecast for this year, subject to steady production and commodity prices, is 97,000 ounces compared to 93,080oz in 2017. Alluvial gold exports through licensed gold exporters, regulated by the Bank of PNG, totaled K365 million last year. Top three licensed gold export companies were Italpreziosi SPL, Golden Valley Enterprises and Gold Exports Ltd. Small-scale mining branch of MRA has now certiﬁed 4583 alluvial miners through its training programmes since 2009. Last year, 420 were certiﬁed, with 337 certiﬁcates issued for level 1 training. With the exception of tenement information, MRA holds no reliable data on the number of people participating in the alluvial sector in PNG. This is especially given the rural and remote locations of many of these community-based, non-mechanised operations. In a paid advertisement yesterday, MRA said: “We do know from our training initiatives, tenement regulation, convention presentations, regional activities and local knowledge that numbers run into the many thousands. “Until a comprehensive database of such information can be established, these numbers will remain purely conjectural and largely unknown.” Outreach training programmes have been conducted in East Sepik over the past 12 months. The next is scheduled for Eastern Highlands for third quarter of this year. There are 24 mining leases (for alluvial purposes) active as at May 2018, of which eight have tribute agreements, and 13 alluvial leases under new or extension application. There are 102 alluvial mining lease tenements active, of which 56 have a tribute agreement registered. Eleven alluvial mining leases and 122 mining lease conversion tenements await completion of assessment for grant under the Mining Act 1992. These are historic pre-1992 alluvial tenements whose tenement and mining rights have been preserved under transitional provisions. Therefore, active alluvial mining tenements make up approximately 40 per cent of total active mining or exploration tenements in the country. There are 64 registered tribute agreements, which support the ﬁnancial capacity and operational requirements of alluvial tenements.